BENEVOLENT

07.29.14

Gabby Giffords Opposed Death for Shooter

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Former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords sought a reprieve from the death penalty for the man who shot her and killed six in 2011. As revealed in her new book, Giffords reveals that she decided against requesting death for Jared Loughner and chose consecutive life sentences in exchange for a guilty plea. She writes that she changed her stance on capital punishment after seeing dozens of death-row inmates released after being found innocent. “In Loughner’s case, I wanted him to have decades to contemplate what he had done. In my view, spending the rest of his days locked up behind bars was worse punishment than execution,” she writes.